Would like some advice: kitchen lighting and HVAC project (UK)

Yep - I have already mentioned the deep boxes to my electrician and I will let him read the forum feedback on here to really grasp what is being instructed.
I am massively appreciative of all your help.

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I will find out the model number for you.
Thanks again

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Great, If your electrician has never worked with home automation before he can also take a look at some of these links to get an idea with pictures of what some possibilities are. He can take a read on the Fibaro Dimmer 2 manual to start getting a grasp on the some of the actual hardware you will be using. The posts below are a good read if he really wants to get into it :wink:

Excellent comments all around! :sunglasses:

Just a quick note for those following along:

In the US, a set up where two different switches control the same light is called a ā€œthree way.ā€

In the UK, the same set up is called a ā€œtwo way.ā€

:level_slider: :bulb: :level_slider:

Similarly a ā€œfour wayā€ setup in the US (one light, three switches) is called a ā€œthree-wayā€ in the UK.

The UK is counting the number of switches. The US is counting the number of connections on one switch.

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Thanks again!
Will pass on the detail.

Good call! With my engineering background I personally prefer the UK method and the metric system of measurement. :grin:

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Just for reference, hereā€™s the stuff I used for my LED soffit box setup:

6A power supply, plenty of power to try and ensure reliability (so far so good, but Iā€™ve put this behind a downlight in case things go wrong).
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0086DE6FI/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

LED strip, 5m. Itā€™s better never to join these in parallel, always make sure every run is 5m or less.

If runs need to be 5m or more away from the controller, use RGBW ext cable:

To connect the PSU to the Fibaro (or choc box):

And obviously the Fibaro RGBW controller itself.

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I used a similar RGBWW product for my kitchen cabinet lighting and it came out great. I used standard dimmers on the LED recessed can lighting. I actually didnā€™t go with the Fibaro RGBW controller (yet :slight_smile:) My current setup was a kit that used a wireless handheld remote to change to whatever color or flash. Then I used a simply Zwave wall switch to turn it on-off. If I want to change the color I need to use the manual remote. It saved me money before I went all out and got the dimming RGBW controller. Continuing the discussion from What is a good low cost solution for zwave controlled LED under cabinet lighting?:

By this do you mean G9ā€™s fitting. As I donā€™t think you can get dimmable versions of these yet at least from a known brand. If you can they might not physically fit to, I would also be a bit sceptical on their dimming capability.
But this industry is changing quick and I could be wrong already.

If your LED strip is just 4k then you donā€™t need any of the RGB stuff and can dim and control it from just a Fibaro dimmer 2.

The extractor would be not easy if even possible to run from a circuit being controlled by a dimmer 2. Not without issues anyway.
You could from a circuit being controlled from a Fibaro relay
Or just put it on its own relay and link it to the light through ST. That way you could operate it independently if you wanted to as well.
If you want to get even more ā€˜fancyā€™ supply your cooker if electric and not to big through a Fibaro relay. and when its on your fan can go on to.

You will need about 45mm depth from the back boxes to the front surface of the wall to be safe, on most choices of switches etc. Boxes come in 35 or 47mm
47mm can be a lot to chop out on some walls though.

But they will fit in 35mm boxes, if you are not using flat plate switches or a modular system.
You can sink a 35mm in a bit deeper. IE back of plasterboard, gives you 47.5mm.
This is for 1 fibaro module in a 1g box or 2 in a 2g box. You might get more ,but will be fun for you electrician.

Dimmer 2 controls 1 circuit
Relay can control 1 or they do one for 2 circuits
You can also use the RGBW controler to do 4 circuits
You just need to check your circuit loadings to the Fibaroā€™s specs

Many thanks Paul. Great feedback.

Dale,
Air Con is outdoor - AJ052 FCJ3EH/EU
2 x indoor - AR07KSFPEWQN/EU
Hope this helps?
Cheers
Jim

That helps, lā€™ll try to find the manuals and see what if any options we have for you. UPDATE: The Samsung UK online support wasnā€™t able to get me pdf file manuals for your systems. ā€¦ Iā€™ll keep looking

Update2:
Found one. The bottom-line answer is it looks like you will not be able to control your AC units from SmartThings short of using a Aeon Heavy Duty Switch for monitoring the power use and on-off of the incoming power which I wouldnā€™t advise. You must use the supplied Samsung controls/thermostat. You got yourself a pretty impressive AC system my friend. It has lots of smarts and a great wireless remote controller to operate it. It also appears to have a Sub PCB option to allow for central remote control which uses the BACnet protocol. So maybe in the future SmartThings would be able to use the BACnet communications protocol for building automation and control networks. I was hoping there might have been a way to pass any input to the system to at least put it in a home/away kind of mode through the PCB but there isnā€™t enough info in the installation manual.

Update3: It is possible that this may be a alternative integration to the existing Samsung thermostat controls via remote control by IntesisHome? It is an intriguing solution that may interest you if the API becomes available. something to watch for. This came from E_Sch

by the way, I would say one of the most used devices in my kitchen on a daily basis on my SmartThings hub is Amazon Echo :slight_smile: Since youā€™re building out the kitchen now, you would have the option to consider using the Amazon Dot and flush mount speakers in the ceiling or walls, or prewire power for Sonos or Samsung Wireless speakers. Thereā€™s something about having great sound in the kitchen while you work :grin:

  • Also you might consider adding a motion detector in the kitchen for automating your lighting.

This is a UK project ā€“ ā€“ Amazon has not yet released the echo there. However, since it is very likely that the echo or some similar device will be available in the UK in the next year or so, under best practices itā€™s worth considering whether you want to reserve an outlet for such a device as they almost all require mains power.

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Dale,
I was thinking of using the ST motion detector for my Lighting in the kitchen, would you recommend this?
I already have 2 Samsung Wireless speakers (M5 and M3) but I am having trouble connecting them to ST as I can only play radio and not centralised music from my Samsung S6 plus - not sure if it is possible?

I do this exact same setup. I use the motion in my kitchen for both lighting (using ST Smart Lighting app) and alarm (use SmartAlarm) and motion works flawless. I just recently got a white Samsung Wireless M7 speaker for my kitchen. It plays great with my Note5 phone using the Samsung Multiroom app and connected to SmartAlarm for notifications. My only problem so far has been trying to locate the optional Samsung WMN100WA wall mounting bracket for the M7. It is not be available here in the US.

What exactly is the trouble you have connecting it to ST?

I have mine connected using the Samsung Milk Music stream and it works very well. Here are videos that might help? (BTW; the app has been updated several times in the short time I got my speaker and even my speaker needed an update. Here is the link to check yours. ) I just started experimenting with it wanting to connect in a dog barking with the siren which is also in the kitchen. :wink: I also am looking into the Samsung option to wirelessly connect the M7 back to my audio equipment in another room to give more options on what I am listening to. Now if I really want to go high tech kitchen I just played with the [new Samsung refrigerator with Family Hub] (Samsung Family Hubā„¢ļø | Samsung US | Samsung USA) at a local store in town. :smiley: The internal speaker is in the door and is poor but I connected it to an M3 at the store and sounds great. @Mike_Maxwell I believe has had these speakers as well but for a while now and could possibly give you his recommendations and thoughts?

My M7ā€™s could not be discovered by the ST app until I had completed the firmware updates on them, after that I had no issues. I do not use them for music, so I canā€™t tell you the ins and outs in that regard.

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Maybe I am struggling here. Do I need to open other apps apart from the ST app or can I have my Lighting and Music working through ST, as this was the whole objective? You mention Samsung Multi room app and ST Smart Lighting app. Can I open these in ST once I connect the devices (Speakers, fibaro kit) and then build rules and routines based on them?
Cheers
Jim

Sorry Jim for the confusion and I certainly relate because we all have to start somewhere. So for clarification when I say ā€œsmartappā€ I am referring to applications that run with the ST environment only. The term app would refer to a mobile phone app that runs iOS/Android (such as the ST mobile app). Yes, the Samsung Multiroom is an iOS/Android app that is completely separate from the ST mobile app. Multiroom will operate the music independently from ST. I am not aware of ST smartapp that ST mobile app can play your music library say like a standalone Multiroom app can. I would download the Samsung Multiroom app to your phone to play with it and see what it can do.

Smart Lighting on the other hand, is a smartapp that runs within ST environment such that you can configure it to monitor your motion sensor and anytime it senses that it is active it can than turn on your kitchen lights and then after a pre-determined amount of time say 60 minutes would then turn off the kitchen lights again. You fibaro will all be controlled from within the ST mobile app. FYI: This is not totally off topic but what lots of people do though is install the smartapp called SmartTiles by @625alex @tgauchat . SmartTiles basically allows you to use a browser interface to monitor/control your ST system from a standalone device like a tablet, PC, etc.

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Dale, Thanks for your answer and apologies however I have had a bit of a nightmare recently with delays etc.
I now need to order from Fibaro the swtiches required.
I have 6 circuits from one panal (45mm deep). 3 that will be dimmable, 1 that will be dimmable for RGB strip, and 2 that will be simply off and on.
Exactly what do i need to order as I am thinking
1x Fibaro RGBW controller for the RGBW strip
3 x Dimmer for the 2 sets of spots and feature G95 lights
2 x Single relay switches for the on/off strip around the extractor and track over kitchen.
Thanks again for your help, this ends up costing more than i wanted it too so maybe you have another suggestion?
Jim